A True Girl

A few weeks ago I read a post on my cousin's blog about her darling little girl who just loves girly things....especially shoes. She went on to tell how her little girl is in LOVE with a certain pair of shoes that are just too small, but still wanted to wear them anyway.

Well, little did I know that in just a few short weeks my little girl would all the sudden start showing these same girly attributes towards shoes.

Yesterday, when getting Alayna ready to go to lunch with my mom and sister, I asked her if she would like to wear her pink boots. She promptly shook her head, went over to the drawer of shoes, grabbed her white, sparkly shoe, walked over to me, turned around, sat on my lap and held her foot up so I could put it on.

I new that these shoes were pretty tight the last time she wore them and I was pretty sure with the thicker socks that she was wearing, they wouldn't fit. But I tried anyway. It definitely wasn't going to happen....especially with those socks. With several inches of snow on the ground and definite winter weather outside, these shoes just weren't an option.

After trying to convince her (several times) that these shoes were too small, I finally got her to wear her "pretty pink and brown shoes with the jewels." Oh, and I forgot to mention that I hid the white, sparkly ones in hopes that she would forget about them this time.

Fast forward to today when we were playing in her room. She opened the drawer of shoes. And the same scenario occurred. Almost exactly. Except this time I gave in, took off her socks and shoved her feet in the shoes. (Never mind the large indent that will be present from the strap when I take those babies off.) She didn't complain and LOVED looking at her feet in the full length mirror.

Apparently beauty knows no pain. Right?

Although I can't say I haven't done the same thing. I will admit there have been a few times I have shoved my feet into a too small pair of shoes just so I would look stylin'.

Here they are in all their glory: The sparkly princess shoes with no socks.

I don't think we will be walking outside much.

Now on my to do list: Go to Target and by larger white, sparkly shoes.

14 Months Old

Alayna is another month older and once again, she has learned so much.

I feel like these posts are just getting longer and longer.

But I will try to condense and make it as painless as possible.


I officially have a Daddy's Girl on my hands. And I am totally ok with that. After spending all day with me, I don't blame her one bit for hanging out with Daddy as much as she can. Dan, on the other hand, has moments where he just wants to be left alone, but 99% of the time LOVES the Alayna attention.

Alayna is getting better at communicating. She consistently signs more, eat, drink and all done.

She also is mastering nodding and shaking her head which is really nice, except for when the answer to everything is no.

The word that she says ALL the time is still "hi". She loves to tell complete strangers in the store "hi". And her new favorite thing is to walk down the aisle in Sunday school, pat the people sitting closest on the leg and say hi. That sure keeps everyone distracted. But it is dang cute.

She has become incredibly picky over this last month and basically lives off of Mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cereal.

Along with the picky-ness comes the "I can do it myself" attitude. She is constantly wanting to feed herself with a spoon, which she is surprisingly good at for her age.

Peekaboo is a favorite game. She loves to do it back to you, only she doesn't quite cover her eyes. Just envision her putting her hands over her cheeks, and pulling them off fast while you say peekaboo.

She is becoming more brave. While taking her bath, she will stick her face in the water several times, pretending to blow bubbles like Daddy.

The biggest change (for me) is the transition to one nap. Yep, I have a one nap baby. I am so sad. Believe me, I tried to hold on to that second nap, but she would have nothing to do with it.

Even though she takes one nap, it is still worth it when I go in to get her and she is running in circles around her crib, smiling and jabbering away.

We also had another first this month....falling down the stairs. Luckily she only suffered from a bleeding, fat lip. But we survived. Both parents and child. It was bound to happen at some point considering her interest in stairs has really increased.

Lastly, (whew) Alayna has learned how to "bump" hands (some people say pound fists). You know, where you make a fist and "bump" the other person's fist. Anyway, she is good at it and it really is quite cute.


Now onto the fun part. Pictures!

Sportin' the beanie inside. She loved wearing her hat.


"I am so happy to wake up from my nap, but I have one question. Has anyone seen my binky?"

Layna loves her Uncle Adam.

Another year has gone by

since I married the best guy in the whole world.

That makes it five years that we have been married.

It seems almost weird that we have been married that long.

I have been able to spend the last 60 months, 260 weeks, 1825 days, 43,800 hours, 2,635,000 minutes, 1,58,100,000 seconds being married to my best friend...and there really isn't anything better than that!

Then:

Now:

Quarter of a Century

That's how old I am today.

Kindof weird to think about.

I think I prefer to just say 25.

It's the hubby's first day of school so I am chillin' at home with Alayna.

Dinner with the hub and present opening to come later this evening.

Happy Birthday to me!

The Big 3-0

I want to wish this handsome man a Happy Birthday!

We sure love you!

I never get anything for free

but today, that changed.

It all started when Alayna and I came home from running errands to find three packages on our doorstep.

Two of which, were things that we were expecting, but the third was a mystery.

To make a long story short, we ended up with a Ginsu 14 piece stainless cutlery set for FREE!

I know, I can't believe it either.

Oh, and before you think that I just kept it without trying to give it back...think again.

I really did call my beloved Target and told them the situation. That I had a package that was addressed to me, that was not mine, and guess what? They told me to keep it and to have a Merry Christmas.

As if I didn't already LOVE Target enough, I love them even MORE!
And I had to check. These puppies price in at 60 bucks!

I Just Can't Stop...

making these.

A few more hair accessories for my collection.

Now, maybe my sister will have a girl and she will be set.

Merry Christmas

I was able to finish and send these bad boys out last week.

Whew.

Another thing checked off the to do list before we move in a little over a week.

Anyways, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas early!

Proud

I just had to give a shout out to my awesome husband.

He received a letter in the mail this weekend, letting him know that he got the scholarship that he applied for!

Not only was it the only scholarship that he qualified for, (apparently 99% of WyoTech's scholarships are for people who are 18 and just graduated high school.) but he was granted the maximum amount! (Every little bit counts. Especially, considering the tuition isn't what I would call cheap:)

Yea! Good job, babe! I am so proud of you.

Random-ness

Our Thanksgiving was great.

Fun was had.

Crafts were made.

Rock band was played. A lot.

Movies were watched. Including New Moon. Dan was kind enough to go with me even though I am pretty sure that movie was not top on his list.

Yummy food was eaten.

And as usual, I did not get the camera out very much. One of these days I will remember and get tons of pictures to document all the fun.

Although I did get documentation of this:
One morning Dan went into the bathroom with a goatee and came out with this handlebar mustache. I was mortified to say the least. I'm sure there are people out there that can appreciate the handlebar mustache, but I will tell you, I am NOT one of them. I think Alayna's facial expression says it all.

I was thinking he was just being funny and was going to shave it off after everyone saw it and we got a few pictures, but no. He wanted to have it the entire day and would not shave it off until the next morning.

I made sure to let him know how much I disliked it, and how I just could not take him seriously with it, thinking he would just go and shave it off, but to no avail. He would not budge.Now, on the normal side of things....Alayna had fun playing with her cousins and running around the house.

Here is Ashlyn and Alayna, getting a massage from the "Massage Chair".

Dan and Jace just chillin'.

And I just had to end with this cute little girl giving us a pose.

Been Craftin'

Now that my time has not been spent on preparing for Terrific Tuesday, I had some time to complete some crafts for me.

Here are my Woof 'em sticks. If you remember, you put dough on the end of the stick, cook it over a campfire and then fill them with whatever you desire (hot dog, cheese and ham, pudding, butter and powdered sugar, etc.). I have yet to try them, but will soon.
This is what the end of the Woof 'em stick looks like.

I made me SEVERAL (like eighty) of these cute tags that my sister designed. We over planned, which meant I got to make all the left overs and then give them away.

Betcha can't guess who's finger that is.

I have recently learned how to do glass etching. It is my new fav. I think I will use my new bottle of etching cream as much as my Mod Podge....maybe.

If you can't tell, the jar is holding some giant jingle bells.

My sister (aka, the craft queen) made a darling hooded bath towel for Alayna. So I kindly asked her how to make it and....wala. I made one for a friend who is having a boy.

I am fully aware that you cannot really tell that it is a hooded bath towel in this picture, but I didn't have a model to wear it. She was sleeping.

I am trying my hand at another quilt. This one the fabric was pre-cut, which I quite enjoyed. Although, I did not enjoy trying to be "random" at sewing the squares together. And by random, I mean not having a pattern. I have been reassured that I am a pattern person. I like patterns. I like to make them. I like to see them. I like order....preferably rainbow order if I am making a pattern with colors. I don't know why. I just do. I always have. Lesson learned. Just thought I would share that quirky fact about me.

Lastly, as if I haven't already made enough hair clips to put in Alayna's hair. Here are some more. Once I got started, I couldn't stop. If you don't believe me, ask Dan.

Oh, and can you see the rainbow pattern?

13 Months Old

I have been wanting to post about Alayna being 13 months, but have been waiting until I got more pictures, but these last few weeks I think Alayna has not been feeling up to getting her picture taken and I have not been up to being the picture taker. So there aren't many pictures, but you take what you can get around here.

Here are the stats from Alayna's One Year Check-up:

19 lbs. 2 oz. (20th percentile)
30 inches (50th percentile)

I feel like a broken record when I say that she is growing up so much and learning lots of new things each day, but it is true. I have a lot to report this month.

So here we go...

Eating.

This is always an adventure. While she has not been too picky of an eater just yet, she has recently decided that she needs to be in control. She insists on feeding herself with a spoon. As you can imagine, this causes quite the mess at times. Luckily she has not become completely opposed to us feeding her so we do manage to gain control of the spoon at times. Although, we have to be somewhat sneaky.

She has also learned how to drink from a straw, but is not the best at it.

Oh, and finally....Alayna is officially weaned! We made it. I was able to nurse her for a full year. And I must admit that I am proud of that fact.

Sleeping.

I am PROUD to report that Alayna is sleeping through the night. I feel human once again. No, really I was just fine with the once a night feeding session, but I will admit, there is nothing like going to sleep and knowing that you don't have to wake up 'til morning.

I am also excited to report that naps are back in order around here. Apparently the whole "getting molars" thing was the source of the problem. Now that we got that under control, I am a happy mom.

Are you still with me?

And what kind of mom would I be if I did not tell you what kind of new things Alayna is doing developmentally?

*She can give you "Five".

*She just has learned how to play peekaboo with her blanket. It seriously is so cute. I will have to catch it on video so you can see for yourself how cute it really is. She holds her blanket in front of her face while you say, "Where's Layna?" and then she will pull it down and say something in jibberish which I am pretty sure is the equivalent to "Peekaboo."

*Most of the time when you say "Nice to meet you", she will shake your hand.

*She is still afraid of the vacuum. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but she has NEVER liked the vacuum. She will sit on your lap with her head on your shoulder while someone is vacuuming. So, in our house, we have arguments over who's turn it is to hold Alayna while the other person vacuums because this is one of the only times she will snuggle.

*Once There Was a Snowman still is her favorite song and has been since she was two months old.

Whew! Sorry. I hope you made it through all of that.

Now, on to the pictures!

And if you can stand this post being a little bit longer, then you have to watch this precious video of my dad and Alayna. He was making her laugh so hard.

Enjoy!

She's Back

That's right.

My beautiful, happy, talkative girl is back!

Her molars are mostly in and her front, bottom tooth is well on it's way.

I am overjoyed!

I need your help

If you have read the previous post, you know that we are moving and going to be living the student life again.

In light of this, we (as in Dan and I) are looking for part time jobs.

I know there are some Laramie-ites that read my blog so I am asking if you could keep your ears and eyes open for any part time jobs. Since we are not physically there, our job looking abilities are limited.

I have already recruited my family to be on job alert for us, but the more, the merrier. Right? Well, you know what I mean.

If you do happen to hear of something, please just leave me a comment and let me know. We would REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks!

At little more info: Dan will be in class from 7am-4pm so he is interested in something in the evenings and I am a little more flexible.

Sometimes it Stinks to be a Grown-up

Decisions.

They have to be made, but lets just face it. Sometimes they are hard. And not fun.

Dan and I have recently been in the decision making process.

After some thought and prayer, we have decided to go back to school. When I say we, I mean Dan.

He is enrolled in the WyoTech diesel program and is absolutely thrilled! It has been a dream of his to go to WyoTech and now it is coming true!

With this decision comes some bitter-sweet feelings. We have LOVED the people in Casper...especially the people in our ward. We have felt so welcome here. It will be sad to go, but we know that this is what we are supposed to do right now.

On the bright side, we get to be near family! There will be two new babies born while we are there and I am excited to play the role of Aunt.

So there you have it. You are now officially in the loop.

Dan starts Dec 28th (my b-day). Oh, did I mention we are moving in the middle of DECEMBER? By the time he finishes (in 9 months) I will be a pro at moving. Five times in two years.

By the way, does anyone want to contribute to our back to school fund? It is NOT cheap going back to school.

It's done!

If you think that I have been slacking on blogging...I have.

For the past couple of months I have been planning a Terrific Tuesday for our ward.

It was a night filled with crafts (glass etching, decoupageing wooden frames and letters, stamping christmas tags, making woof 'em sticks...sticks that cook bread dough over an open fire and create like a hot pocket of sorts, quilting, and learning to make fried tacos.

And now I am done.

Ladies came, ate, and got crafty.

I think the night was a success!

Whew!

Not another one!

Guess what.

This morning Dan was playing with Alayna and noticed that she is getting yet ANOTHER tooth.

I am not kidding.

Not only is she getting four molars all at once, but another bottom tooth as well.

Sigh.

Poor girl.

At this rate she will have all of her teeth by the time she is 18 months.

Halloween: Take Two

Last week we were invited to a Halloween party.

This is what we went as: Our very own little spice girl.

Happy Halloween

From,

Our little ballerina

And another thing...

Motrin.

It is what has saved us through this whole molar situation.

And evidently Alayna knows the power that Motrin has. She will take it with her wherever she goes. She knows it makes her feel better, so she's not leaving it behind.

See.

Look closely in her right hand.

Over the last two days, when I FINALLY get her to take a nap, she falls asleep holding her bottle of Motrin. And I just let her. It must be her comfort, along with her blankie.

Looking on the Bright Side

Alayna is getting FOUR molars at the same time.

Boy, I didn't know what I was in for. In fact, I didn't even know that they got molars at this age.

Well anyways, her other six teeth have been nothing compared to these molars. Actually, her other teething experiences really only consisted of some whining and clingy-ness.

So, for the last couple of weeks, I have had a "different" baby.

As a result, her naps have been totally out of whack. And I am having a heck of a time trying to get her back to the good napping baby that she was.

BUT I am looking at the bright side.

Even though her napping is not what it once was, she has slept through the night (7:00pm-6:15am) the last two nights.

Yahoo!

That makes the weirdness of her napping all worth it. Right?

I really am trying to look on the bright side.

The Latest

Update anyone?

I am feeling as though I have not done a great job of updating you on what is happening with us.

So here's the latest.

With Alayna's birthday, came a special present from Mommy and Daddy.

Here she is trying it out.

After her birthday, the presents just seemed to keep coming.

Getting the mail was quite a treat.

This present she got in the mail is one of her favorites. The picture is kind of dark and fuzzy, but can you see that darling purse that is just her size? She LOVES it!

I can officially say Alayna has pretty much mastered the walking. Yes, she still loses her balance and has moments where she looks a little tipsy, but judging by how many times she was able to walk up and down the aisle in Relief Society on Sunday, she basically has it down.

You would be amazed at how well she is able to walk in these stylin' pink boots.

There really is no reason for this picture, except to get a look at that cute little face.

When she is not walking all over the house, she is chillin' with Daddy.

Yes, my child is amazing. She already knows how to read. At least she knows how to read cards that say Happy Halloween from Grandma and Grandpa S.

And Finally, here is the latest in the crafting area. Mod Podge has become my best friend. I decided the scuffed, white top of Alayna's bookshelf was too boring. Plus you could see the screws holding it together.

So with scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, and a little time, I created a more colorful top to her bookshelf.

One craft project down. Only 137 more to go. Just kidding. But I really do have a list of projects I want to complete, so I don't forget any.

More Nativity Info

Sorry I didn't share my source with you!

They are stickers put on wooden stained blocks, then a layer of Mod Podge is put over the top.

I ordered the set from here but you can also just order the stickers.

Happy crafting!

It's too early...

But I couldn't resist.

I am in charge of Terrific Tuesday (a night where women come and do crafts) for our church.

While searching for craft ideas, I came across this cute Nativity scene that is perfect for kids.

I had to order one and try it out. It was way easy to make.



The entire Nativity.

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the Angel, and the star.

The wisemen.

The Shepard and animals.